On Thursday the 20th November the Ashmolean hosted Oxford Neuroscience researchers for ‘Thinking about the Brain’. Organised by Chrystalina Antoniades (Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences) and Jim Harris, Andrew W Mellon Foundation Teaching Curator at the Ashmolean, the event explored the arts and neuroscience. After an inspiring introduction from Alastair Buchan (Head of the Medical Siences Division and Dean of the Medical School) the audience were treated to easily accessible talks covering a wide range of historical topics. These included the representation of: the mind of god in the Christian tradition - Joshua Hordern (dept. of Theology), emotions in medieval literature - Ayoush Lazikani (Dept of History) and the creation of modern art incorporating iconic paintings with neuronal images David Lomas (Dept of Art, Manchester). Matthew Broome (Dept of Psychiatry) talked on the history of psychological medicine.
Glyn Humphreys Talking on spatial neglect
This was brought into the modern perspective by talks on cutting edge visual neuroscience by Glyn Humphreys (Dept of Experimental Psychology), Chris Kennard (Chair of Oxford Neuroscience) and Chrystalina Antoniades.
One of the highlights of the evening was Ayoush Lazikani reading mediaeval poetry to the audience in Early Middle English.